The 15 Greatest Super Bowl Ads from Food and Beverage Brands

Every year there is a ton of hype leading up to the Super Bowl—where will you watch the game, what will you bring, how much will you bet, and what time does the damn thing start? And even if you aren’t a football fan, because you usually get to eat nachos, drink beer, and find out what happens when companies spend $3 million on a 30-second commercial.

Ad companies pull out all the stops for the ambitious ads that debut on Super Bowl Sunday. To get ready for the newest crop this weekend, we sifted through YouTube vaults to find the 15 best food and drink commercials from over the past few decades. From nut perfume to Michael Jackson to talking unicorns, there is something there for everyone. Isn’t that what the Super Bowl is really all about?

Budweiser Clydesdales

Year: 2008
Commercial: Budweiser, Clydesdales
Why we love it: This one pulls on the heartstrings, with one of the iconic Anheuser-Busch horses cast as Rocky, and a Dalmation as Mick. Hank the horse is the underdog dying to make the elite Budweiser team. Who doesn't love the Rocky theme song (Gonna Fly Now) and a high five shared between dog and horse?

Planter's Nut Perfume

Year: 2008
Commercial: Planter's Nuts, "Peanut Perfume"
Why we like it: The whole time this fugly chick is getting oogled and drooled over, we are trying to figure out the catch. She is so over-the-top un-attractive, with a noticeably false unibrow and mole, so you know there is going to be a great surprise ending delivered. That moment comes with the application of Planter's perfume applied via a cashew rubbed behind the ears, onto the wrist, and even into cleavage. Nose-scrunchingly gross and awesome.

Doritos "Mouse Trap"

Year: 2008
Commercial: Doritos, "Mouse Trap"
Why we love it: Another clever ad from the Doritos people, this one capitalizes on the combination of good music and a slow build. The shock factor when a huge life-size mouse pops out of the wall warrants a hearty thumbs up.

Pepsi Max "I'm Good"

Year: 2009
Commerical: Diet Pepsi Max, "I'm Good"
Why we love it: Does Pepsi Max even exist anymore? Who knows, but this commercial cleverly riffed on Ohhhh and Eeesh sounds that people make out loud when they see a big hit. Diet soda is not for men! But Pepsi Max is, because apparently only guys who can sustain bowling balls dropped on their heads and electrocution are worthy of drinking the stuff.

Diet Pepsi Max's Star-Studded 2008 Ad

Year: 2008
Commercial: Diet Pepsi Max, "Wake Up People"
Why we love it: The execution of this is top-notch. Beginning with Troy Aikman boring Joe Buck to sleep, the ad becomes a clever montage of sleep-induced head nodding from a laundry list of stars including Buster Rhymes, LL Cool J, Missy Elliot, and that dude from Night at the Roxbury.

Bud Light Does Auto-Tune

Year: 2010
Commercial: Bud Light, Auto-Tune
Why we love it: We wish every time we picked up a bottle of Bud Light there was an option for singing with auto-tune. There's also a cameo with T-Pain where he asks for some game day guac—a nice touch that captured the musical zeitgeist of the year.

Doritos Montage

Year: 2010
Commercial: A montage of Doritos Super Bowl commercials
Why we love it: Overall, 2010 seemed to be a strong year for the Doritos company. Highlights include a kid smacking a man in the face for trying to hit on his mom and his chips, and a ninja wielding Doritos shuriken (throwing stars) as weapons.

M&M'S "Sexy and I Know It"

Year: 2012
Commercial: M&M'S, "Sexy and I Know It"
Why we like it: Because the red M&M is a funny guy. Extra flurishes like Mr. Red mouthing "Ay," a fist-pumping track, and the ending with "Wiggle, Wiggle, Wiggle" make for a well-executed and memorable commercial.

Drink Milk Like We Bringing '88 Back

Year: 1988
Commercial: Milk, "America's Health Kick"
Why we love it: Because it makes us ask, "What the hell was 1988 like?" and "Yo, bruh, where'd you get those reflective lenses?" That dude in a suit also has mad soccer skills, and the guy with the broken nose is holding a rugby ball? I bet he is not from the heartland and has an accent from Scotland. Either way, old school America Super Bowl commercials about milk are funny and weird, and also only about white people.

Emerald Nuts Unicorns

Year: 2005
Commercial: Emerald Nuts, "Unicorns Will Disappear Forvever"
Why we love it: This ad employs a talking unicorn, Santa, and the Easter Bunny—all of which are just kinda creepy enough—reasserting their rights against a lying dad. This one is too clever not to like. "If you touch those Emerald Nuts, the Easter Bunny gets whacked."

The Jimi Hendrix Pepsi Spot

Year: 2004
Commercial: Pepsi-Cola, Purple Haze
Why we love it: It's fun to think that Jimi might have been playing accordion instead of a Stratocaster if he had gone for the Coke over the Pepsi. Clearly, it is the cola that defines the man. Plus, any chance to give parents an opportunity to school their kids about Hendrix on game day is a good thing.

Michael Jackson for Pepsi

Year: 1984
Commercial: Pepsi Generation
Why we love it: Because it features the King of Pop and a pint-sized Carlton from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. There are sparkly socks, ginormae boom boxes, red leather jackets, the moon walk, and the prerequisite single gloved hand. Pepsi, Jackson, and the Super Bowl mean America. Get on board. Plus, after this, Billy Jean was no longer about how M.J. did not knock up a girl, but instead about coming together as a new generation and dancing in the streets.

Budweiser Whassup/True

Year: 2000
Commercial: Budweiser, Whassup "True"
Why we love it: Anheuser-Busch have undoubtedly launched some of the most memorable Super Bowl ad campaigns of all time. From croaking frogs to lizards to Clydesdales, the commercials range from nostaligic to seriously funny. The Whassup campaign takes the cake for any child of the '90s, who remembers beating the catchphrase into the ground with friends. Even the dudes from Scary Movie got on board, as well as countless other spoofs which co-opt the tag phrase. An oldie and a goodie. Whasssssssssssssup! Still fun to say.

Taco Bell's 2013 Ad

Year: 2013
Commercial: Taco Bell, Viva MasWhy we love it: This early sneak peak released via YouTube shows a bunch of old codgers throwing down. It's hard not to smile and hope that some day we'll be posted up in a Taco Bell parking lot at 2am with some other rabble-rousing octogenarians, or at the very least making-out in clubs and showing people our nipples...

Every year there is a ton of hype leading up to the Super Bowl—where will you watch the game, what will you bring, how much will you bet, and what time does the damn thing start? And even if you aren't a football fan, because you usually get to eat nachos, drink beer, and find out what happens when companies spend $3 million on a 30-second commercial.
Ad companies pull out all the stops for the ambitious ads that debut on Super Bowl Sunday. To get ready for the newest crop this weekend, we sifted through YouTube vaults to find the 15 best food and drink commercials from over the past few decades. From nut perfume to Michael Jackson to talking unicorns, there is something there for everyone. Isn't that what the Super Bowl is really all about?
Written by Hannah Norwick (@HannahNorwick)

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